Tuesday, 16 August 2011

Putting Words In Rick Perry's Mouth

Governor Rick Perry, who entered the presidential campaign on Saturday, appeared to suggest a violent response would be warranted should Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke “print more money” between now and the election. Speaking just now in Iowa, Perry said, “If this guy prints more money between now and the election, I dunno what y’all would do to him in Iowa but we would treat him pretty ugly down in Texas. Printing more money to play politics at this particular time in American history is almost treasonous in my opinion.” Treason is a capital offense.

This is just ridiculous. There are plenty of reasons to oppose Rick Perry (he believes that Social Security is unconstitutional and has flirted with secessionism) without putting words in his mouth and blowing a statement he made completely out of proportion. It reminds me of the "Al Gore invented the internet" meme, or "The scream heard 'round the world" from Howard Dean.

Here's what Perry actually said:

It seems to me that Perry was just grousing about the Fed, and saying that his constituents - those callous-handed, down to earth Texans - wouldn't look favorably on Bernanke or his policies. Sullivan straight up lied - the word "lynch" is never used, nor is it even strongly implied.

This example of misquoting and dirty tricks on the part of the left (excluding Sullivan, who, despite his voluminous knowledge of conservative political philosophy, is almost impossible to classify politically) is disheartening, especially when it's used to set Rick Perry on fire when there are plenty of honest ways to show voters he's not a credible contender.